St Michael & All Angels

He was the 4th son of King Edward III and he inherited the manor from his grandmother Queen Isobel. He was already very wealthy with the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster and was able to provide money to the villagers of Aylsham for the building of a large new church. The church was dedicated to St Michael & All Angels and it was built on the site of an earlier much smaller church.

The nave consists of six bays of alternate circular and octagonal pillars in the Decorated style from 1380. The tower is built in the late Decorated and early Perpendicular style in five stages. The floor of the ringing chamber is not built into the tower but is supported by a wooden gallery standing on the floor of the church. It was probably built at the same time as the tower.

By 1450 the transepts and aisles had been added. The north transept was the Guild Chapel of St Peter. There is a tradition that, in mediaeval times, this transept was walled off and reserved for the use of lepers, but there appears to be no structural evidence for this. There are a number of faces included in the roof bosses.
The south transept is known as the Lady Chapel. It was refurbished at the expense of Thomas Alleyn (senior of Lyng) in 1489 and includes a piscina with Tudor Roses in the spandrels.
The chancel arch is not supported on columns but arises from corbels high up on the wall carved with angels holding scrolls. The south aisle of the chancel was formerly the chapel of the guild of St Thomas.

The South Porch was added in 1488 at the bequest of Richard Howard, an Aylsham man who became Sheriff of Norwich. The carved octagonal font dates from the 15th century.
The east window was glazed in 1844 and shows St Peter, St James, St John and St Andrew. The oldest windows in the church are in the Lady Chapel dating back to 1320 and 1516 in the South Sanctuary. Other major windows include one showing the Holy Family, the large 'Serpent' window, John the Baptist complete with hair shirt, and Christ with the Children which was added in 1837 in memory of Humphrey Repton.

Humphry Repton, the nationally known landscape gardener, chose to be buried in Aylsham churchyard and the grave can be found outside the Chancel door. Examples of his work can be found locally at Sheringham Hall and Felbrigg Hall.